Taylor Hamilton's Homemade Pizza Dough
Taylor Hamilton, the author of this recipe, is the pizza pioneer at Union Loafers. Hamilton started working with pizza at the age of 16. Since then, he's worked at restaurants such as Dewey’s Pizza, Guido's Pizzeria & Tapas, and Sasha’s Wine Bar, perfecting his craft along the way.
Serving: 2 pizzas (each 12 inches)
Ingredients
- 400 grams (3 1/4 cups) Bread Flour (All Purpose is fine too)
- 296 grams (1 1/4 cups) Warm Water (around 90 degrees F)
- 12 grams (3 teaspoons) Olive Oil
- 10 grams (1/2 tablespoon) Salt
- 8 grams (2 teaspoons) Sugar
- 1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) Dried Yeast
Steps:
- Start by stirring all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with a large spoon.
- Next, pour in your water and olive oil.
- Stir everything together until there is no more dry flour and a dough has fully formed.
- Let everything rest for 10 minutes. At this stage, we have dough that is sticky and lumpy.
- Knead for at least 5 minutes, but no more than 10 minutes. **Kneading just means folding the dough over into itself repeatedly. We are building strength into the dough and developing gluten. I prefer to knead in the bowl, using one hand and keeping the other hand clean to hold and rotate the bowl.**
- Let everything rest for 20 minutes. Now you should be able to pick up the dough in one piece.
- Fold the dough into a tight smooth ball. **Similar to kneading, we are going to tuck the edges of the dough underneath itself to create surface tension. Once the dough feels smooth and taut, place it back in the bowl.**
- Cover the dough and let it proof at room temperature for one hour.
- Now let’s take a look. **The dough is bigger. It smells good. We should see some small bubbles and signs of life. All of these signs are great.**
- Empty your dough out onto a lightly floured counter. **We should see some nice holes where the dough was touching the bowl. Another great sign.**
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts (350 grams each)
- Again, roll each piece into a tight smooth ball just as we did before and store, seam side down, in an appropriate* air tight container.
- Let the dough balls rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Store in the fridge overnight, and use any time the next day (or up to 3 days).
- Pull the dough out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour before making pizza (while your oven and stone preheat).
Notes:
- Resting time for dough is very important. It lets the flour hydrate, and the dough “relax” so that it is all around easier to work with. Don’t mess with it!
- This recipe calls for leaving the dough in the fridge overnight before use. I get it, you made dough and you want pizza now, but don’t do it. A lot of magic happens in that fridge overnight. Just be patient. It’s worth it.
- Yes, there’s sugar in this dough. I know it’s kinda lame, but it gives us more browning at this lower temperature and really helps us get the color crust we want without over baking the pizza and drying everything out.
- I find storing each dough ball in its own container very convenient. Ideally a circular plastic Tupperware or something similar with an air tight lid and enough room for the dough to grow and relax. Whatever you store in, pour a little oil in the container first and thank yourself later when the dough falls out with ease.
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